CORE Restaurant Marketing

Joe Welsh is a Partner with CORE Restaurant Marketing Solutions which is a national restaurant marketing agency focusing on helping restaurants improve their sales and profitability. Joe has worked with restaurants on a local and national basis. He has developed and implemented programs for US Foodservice, Gordon Foods and Performance Food Group. Joe has his Master’s Degree in Food Marketing from St. Joseph’s University and over 30 years’ experience in the Food Industry covering both the retail and foodservice sectors.

What Is Your Restaurant’s Reputation? Oh The Places You’ll Go!

No, this is not a blog about the Dr. Seuss book, but it is a story about places you might wind up at. Learn about how digital maps can impact your restaurant’s reputation.

As a Restaurant Coach, I often use Google Maps when I travel. In many areas, I am not familiar with the towns and streets. It has become my guide to reach restaurants that I have meetings with. It is a great tool that has changed the game for many. Gone are the days of Mapquest, Garmin and even maps themselves.

Over the past month there have been five instances of where I have entered the name of the restaurant I am trying to find only to have it show me the wrong location. The name entered was correct, the information appeared accurate, but the address was not correct. Sometimes it has been as simple as being off by a block, in other instances the town it wanted to take me to was an hour in the wrong direction. Fortunately for me I could tell something was wrong and made adjustments or a phone call to get the correct information. Has this ever happened to you?

Does it really mean anything? I ask you to think about it from a consumer’s perspective, how they may feel, what actions they take and who they tell the story to. How does this impact the reputation of your restaurant? This is just one of the examples of things that can impact the reputation of your restaurant. As you know there several others such as review sites, social media and even your website may have incorrect information. One restaurant has an old menu on their website and a consumer wrote a negative review on Yelp. See how they are all connected to your restaurant’s reputation?

The game has changed, digital marketing is the new reality and it does have an impact on your business. Unfortunately, many restaurant owners do not have an idea of where to start to correct the issues that are out there creating a reputation for their restaurant. Like most problem solving situations, the first step is to understand where you are at with a Restaurant Reputation audit. This tool can give you an overview of your search engine listings and their accuracy. It will also give you a handle of your social media activity along with what your customers are posting about your business in review sites. You will also get a website review for technical issues such as loading speed on both mobile and desktop computers. Did you know that most people are doing everything from their smartphone and not a desktop computer. Is your site mobile friendly? Once you have your audit, you can take corrective actions where necessary and begin to improve your digital marketing strategy.

As a service to restaurants, we offer a Free Restaurant Reputation Report to help you understand where you are at with your digital footprint. In many cases, the information validates what you have been working on. In some cases it may open your eyes to what you are not aware of. Either way, the objective overview is a good checkpoint just like an annual physical with your Doctor. To obtain your free audit simply request your free Restaurant Reputation Report or text “CORECOACH” to 22828 on your mobile phone. You will get your free report.

With over 30 years of experience in the food industry, CORE Restaurant Marketing’s mission is in helping restaurants improve their revenues. To learn more about how CORE Restaurant Marketing can bring value to the restaurant industry, please contact us at info@corerestaurantmarketing.com or call us at 1-888-890-9492 x 101.